Gray's Hat
by lifethatyouhate
Summary: When his hat goes missing, Gray and Claire get into a little argument- but who can stay mad at him?


Disclaimer: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters.

"You don't understand, Claire!" Gray whined. "I've worn that hat my whole life. It's missing and I _need _it. It's really important!"

I sighed and nodded my head. Every hour or so I tried to argue with him so I could stop crawling around his room, looking everywhere at least five times, but he always convinced me to keep looking with the desperation in his voice.

There was always something about Gray that kept me with him. Some couldn't stand to be friends with him, and neither could I. I couldn't stand to be _just _friends with him. Every day it seemed more and more impossible, and yet every day I put up with it. I put up with his mood swings, his temper, and his pessimism. I did this all because I cared about him.

Of course, he would never pause from thoughts of blacksmithing, Saibara, the library, or his hat long enough to consider this prospect.

"Gray," I started again, and he spun around to look at me, folding his arms. I avoided looking into his angry eyes as I always did, stood up, and dusted myself off before I turned to glare at him. "I'm tired of looking. We've been looking for six hours. We looked all over Saibara's, we looked all over here. It's gone, Gray."

"It can't be gone!" he argued. I had never seen him get so worked up over something. "I've had this hat my whole life. I don't remember _not _having the hat. I need it. I need to wear it, Claire, I can't explain it, I just do! So keep looking, you just haven't checked everywhere yet!"

I sighed and prepared to check under the bed again before I straightened up. Why was I spending my time doing this? Had he even thanked me?

"Well, you know what Gray? I'm tired of this. I'm tired of looking for your hat and I'm tired of your bad mood. I hope you find the stupid thing, but _I'm_ going to take care of my farm, which is _supposed _to be my number one priority, not you and your dumb hat! I guess you're going to have to start showing some actual emotion instead of just hiding underneath your hat, huh?"

With that I stormed out, leaving Gray staring at me strangely as I walked out. "What's wrong?" Ann asked as I hurried past her, and I merely pointed up the staircase. It was easy for her to get the hint that way.

Sometimes, Gray was the hardest person to get along with in the entire world. He liked to provoke you until you were at your wit's end, he thought it was funny once you'd reach your limit, and he kept pushing until you exploded and then made _you _feel guilty.

Or maybe that was just me.

"Ugh! Can you believe him?" I demanded of my Shelley, who innocently flopped her ears to the side and wagged her tail. She loved Gray, of course she wouldn't take my side. Every time he came she got excited and ran from me straight to him, the little traitor.

"But, Shelley! He's so _mean_!"

She looked at me as if to say, But that hat is very important to him, Claire.

"But why is a stupid hat so important, anyways? It's _just _a hat, a hat that I helped him look for a very long time and he never even said thank you, not _once_!"

But he told you he had it for as long as he remembered. You'd be upset if you lost that stuffed animal you've had all your life.

I looked at the stuffed bunny that was lying on its side on my bed. When I was six years old, I had to spend two weeks at home because I was so sick with the flu. My grandma dragged me out of bed, made me go to the store with her, and bought the bunny to make up for it. It wasn't my favorite memory, but it was my favorite thing.

Just as it did every time, guilt began to weigh me down. Maybe I shouldn't have yelled at Gray. He didn't deserve it, did he? It was special to him. If my stuffed animal had gone missing, I would have been mad too if someone said it wasn't that important. I probably crushed him when I yelled at him, in fact.

"Why does he have to be so difficult?" I sighed as I picked up my phone.

The next day I came home from mining to find Gray waiting outside my house, looking cuter than usual without his hat. I hadn't really paid attention to that the day before as I tried to find the stupid thing. His hair was redder than I had thought, his skin paler, and he was wearing a surprisingly sheepish smile.

"Claire," he murmured when I walked up. "Look, about yesterday-,"

"No, don't say anything. I'm sorry. Here, come here," I told him instantly, torn between being ashamed of myself for being so apologetic and being completely contrite. I grabbed his arm and tugged him inside and over to my bed, where a new hat was lying.

"Whoa," he whispered as I passed it to him. I couldn't remember ever seeing him so stunned. "This looks...is this my hat? Or is this just…identical?"

"It's not your hat, Gray, I'm sorry…but I ordered it from the city last night so…here you go. I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have gotten frustrated. Your hat was important to you. I'd be upset if I were you too."

He gently put the hat on, and then gave a soft laugh. "What?" I demanded, getting angry again. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because it's completely not your fault, Claire. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I let my temper get the best of me. And you really shouldn't be apologizing. I mean, I got you this to make it up to you," he told me, pulling a bracelet from his pocket. "I made it for you. I worked all night so I could get it to you today."

He clasped it over my wrist, and I stared down at it, shocked. "You mean…I didn't have to get overnight shipping? I didn't have to do anything?"

"'Course not. You should know by now I'm kind of…moody," he shrugged, as if he was saying he was only a _little _temperamental. "You don't have to apologize for anything. It's never your fault, it's always mine."

I smiled down at my bracelet, and felt the familiar sense of relief wash over me that always did after things between Gray and I were set right. He had even worked to make me a _bracelet_. My cheeks were on fire.

"I'm sorry you didn't get your hat back," I told him, looking down before meeting his eyes again. "I know how much it meant to you. I just don't know where it could have gone."

"Actually, Ann told me that her and Popouri were cleaning and Popouri threw it out. She thought I looked better without it," he rolled his eyes and I laughed. I could picture Popouri doing that. "But this hat is better, anyways."

"How can this hat be better? It doesn't have any memories or anything..." I replied sadly, thinking about his lost hat as I looked at the stuffed rabbit on my bed.

Gray pulled it down a little lower and looked at me.

"It's special because it's from you."

As I swung my arms up to link around his neck, the stuffed animal fell to the floor. I didn't stop to retrieve it.

Author's Note: It took me forever to find out how to end this. =p I just came up with this while writing Knowing What I Know. It distracted me a little bit so I could get back to that and be more focused, so hopefully you enjoy this little oneshot. :) I kind of like the way it turned out, but I don't know. I'm not a big fan of anything I write anymore. But thank you if you took the time to read all of this. :D By the way I know stuff about Gray's hat is overdone but oh well. Haha hopefully this is a little original? I tried. Oh and I know the title isn't exciting but I liked that it was simple.


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